Eifel/Luxembourg 2023

[Pie man]

Many good places to take in the views, traversing along the Moselle between Cochem to Trier along the 53. 

 

Pie Sport is a tradition in Wigan too 

[Gerontious]

26 minutes ago, Pie man said:

Many good places to take in the views, traversing along the Moselle between Cochem to Trier along the 53. 

 

We don't tend to use the roads that run along the river side. this year only very briefly for about 6 miles split into two parts. the 49. was so glad to get away from it. especially Cochem which was far too busy for my taste. main tourist centre and all that. Always comes as a nasty surprise after the emptiness (by comparison) of the interior. Ideally I would just go to a point above the river and then immediately turn around. We only went to Piesport one day as, as one of the guys said "That view never gets old" and its a quieter crossing of the river and was perfect to pick up the route down to the Pfalz.

 

 

We don't really go for the B roads (German B roads) except as a means to an end. Much preferring the L and especially the K roads. K roads ideally. the more the merrier. These are generally the very best. (for us, anyway)

 

[Bungleaio]

I've been slacking on writing up what I got up to so before I forget I'll get it done

 

Sunday for me was a short ride from Belgium into Germany, I had loads of time and not very far to go so there was plenty of faffing about. I headed out with no real route planned and only a final desination in mind. Being in belgium I found that I wasn't far from Spa so I headed towards the race track.

 

 

I'd messed up though as I hadn't thought about food for Sunday lunch and pretty much everywhere is shut on the continent on a Sunday but right next to the race track was a garage that did sandwiches so I grabbed something from there along with a massively overpriced bottle of water.

 

I didn't go into the main entrance to the track but I followed the road around the edge and found a little layby with a turnstile in the fence. There were people on the other side of the fence so I tried the turnstile and it seemed to rotate both ways so I went though it and got trackside

 

 

 

There was a random track day on the go which was great to see but I was a bit nervous that I was on the wrong side of the fence and my bike and all my stuff was on the other side of it, I went back and watched for a while next to the bike.

 

 

It must be a well known spot as there was quite few people turning up to watch from there

 

 

I continued on my way aimlessly ridinging around on random roads. I was soon in Germany, the line where the awful belgian roads end and the glorious german roads start was very obvious.

 

 

 

I arrived at the hotel first so got checked in and unpacked. for the first time that I'd seen the town was having a bit of a fair so I had an ice cream, currywurst, and beer.

 

 

A couple of hours later the rest of the guys arrived so we all went to the Saray grill for a Kebab (and a beer) . This was closed last year so it was great to have one again.

 

[Bungleaio]

Monday started with a huge breakfast of bread, meat, cheese, boiled eggs and yogurt. 

 

 

We all set off for a big day out as the hotel restaurant wasn't open in the evening so there was no rush to be back. @Gerontious is a dab hand at plotting a good route so he lead and we all followed him along some fantastic roads.

 

I don't know how he finds them but we stopped for lunch after about 4 hours of riding in a great little spot with a host that had a very strong resemblance to Einstein. Bearing in mind we are in the middle of very rural Germany the guys daughter lives in Norwich, it's a small world at times. We all had a fantastic alchohol free beer and most of us had Flammkuchen to eat which was also fantastic.

 

 

It was about 4pm now and we were almost at the halfway point so there was plenty more riding to do. On the return leg we stopped at the top of the hill in Piesport, I'd riddent he road down a couple of times but never up, both are equally as good.

 

 

 

A few more miles later it was dark and we were back at the hotel. We covered an impressive 270 miles in almost 7 hours. It was abotu 9pm by this point so we headed to the supermarket to get some food.

 

Whilst outside 5 uk bikes in the carpark was generating a bit of attention, @bonio was having a chat with a German guy that rode a KTM but the main event was another guy who was amazed to see Snod's TRX. "Nice nice nice" 

 

He even called his mate to tell him about the TRX which Snod had to have a chat with, there was a huge language barrier but a shared love of the TRX brought them together.

 

 

The night was concluded with a couple of Beers on the hotel balcony.

 

A long day but one of the best I've had on a bike.

[bonio]

So this picture needs a bit of explanation. We've come out of the shop to find the guy in the orange shorts strutting around snoddy's bike muttering "nice, nice, nice" and then he was on his phone to his friend, saying things like, "... und eine weisse tank", and suddenly, not sure how, but snoddy was on the phone to the friend, which was a bit comical because orange short guy's English didn't run any further than "nice" x 3, snod's can say "bier bitte" in German but not a lot more, and the guy on the end of the phone was no polyglot. But we understood they liked the bike.

[bonio]

Here's another pic from the day, from the stop above Piesport.

 

Edited September 19, 2023 by bonio
to ensure the pic losds pk

[Gerontious]

1 hour ago, bonio said:

Here's another pic from the day, from the stop above Piesport.

 

for some reason this photo refuses to load. Never mind eh. Here’s 3 photos I took.

 

 

 

 

The view from the road above Piesport has no comparison here in the UK. Nor does the road down the bank winding its way through the vineyards to the river and the little town over the bridge.

 

photos don’t do it justice nor can they convey the shock this view is to be system when you first see it. Suddenly emerging on the right as you leave the woodland behind in the final few 100 yards before this opens up to view. First time I saw it, it came as an almost physical shock to the sense. I had a massive feeling of vertigo and a genuine wobble on the bike. It’s just incredible and totally unexpected.

[Bungleaio]

Onto Tuesday, this was to be a shorter day as schnitzel was on the menu for the evening at the hotel and schnitzel night is the highlight of the week.

 

We set off on more glorious roads but Gerontious' skills of finding a coffee stop failed him, well we found it but it was shut.

 

 

 

Even going to the castle next door didn't result in refreshments

 

 

There was a photo opportunity though

 

 

This stop did have one bit of excitement which involved a treasure hunt for a lost key. It didn't take long to find though. 

 

 

On for some more riding around and Gerontious' skills were back in action and he found us an excellent stop for lunch. We all had different things, mine being some really nice goulash served in a jam jar.

 

 

On for more riding with one eye on the clock so that we didn't miss schnitzel night but there were still a good few miles yet to cover. We rode through Cochem which is a fantastic looking place but full of people and bikes. 5 UK registered bikes seemed to attract the attention of the German rozzers and they followed us for a couple of miles or so, Gerontious and Smallfrowe had already shot off into the distance but some exemplary riding from Snod, Bonio and myself resulted in the rozzers getting bored and going off to find someone else to follow.

 

Our return journey was going well until a diversion thwarted the plan so we had to find an alternative route. We attempted to find some shade as the heat had been relentless all day.

 

 

Sadly we got split up on this leg and rather than being all together we ended up being into three. We did end up on the motorway though so as we were in germany the full berries were given. Sadly when I got to 116mph a lorry pulled out for an overtake so I had to slow down and I didn't have enough space to pick up speed before the next junction, a shame as I was looking forward to seeing if the 125mph limt on the tiger is a real thing.

 

I lead Bonio back until he knew where he was and then he overtook me and disappeared into the distance, he's a bit more enthusiastic than I am so I was more than happy for him to go past. The only thing that did annoy me was that as I took a couple of minutes extra to go back I missed out on the spectacle of him jumping off his bike and dropping it on the floor 

 

 

We were a bit late getting back so a quick change and it was in for Schnitzel.

 

 

Sadly for me, I could only manage one and I had to retire to my room so that I could have a night kneeling to the porcelain gods with occasional bouts of the brown rain. I put it down to the really hot weather and over-exerting myself but Smallfrowne had the same thing 2 days later so there must have been something going round.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 19, 2023 by Bungleaio

[Bungleaio]

After a very rough night on Tuesday I was up on Wednesday morning and feeling a lot better but tired. I joined the guys for breakfast at 8 but I waved them off and went back to bed to get some more sleep.

 

 

3 Hours of extra sleep later I was feeling a lot better and I was also feeling a bit peckish so I decided to go out on the bike for a couple of gentle miles. I ended up just inside Luxembourg so called into a supermarket to get some apples and sushi for lunch. Not wanting to eat in the car park I put a pin in Google Maps that looked like it was on top of a big hill and headed off there.

 

The road I was on went from impeccable tarmac to rough tarmac, to gravel to mud. I could have turned around but I put the tiger into offroad mode and it went up it no problem at all

 

 

The top of the hill lead to another tarmac road and some massive hay bales which provided some shade but the view was good, not as good as Piesport but nothing ever is.

 

 

I headed back from there to the hotel having covered less than 50 miles but considering how I was feeling in the night I was amazed that I'd been on the bike at all.

 

Dinner that night was an incredible meal of goulash along with a complimentary shot of the strongest Schnapps I've ever had.

 

[Gerontious]

Nice as Cochem is, policy going forward will be to avoid the place. It always comes as a pretty horrible shock when you move from a landscape that is essentially empty of traffic plus Polizei and tourists to an area that’s rammed with all three. Especially when it’s hot and the breeze at speed is the only relief. And it was hot. Mid 30s every day with the only relief being a stop in the shade or riding into and through thick woodland. I think this was the hottest it’s ever been on these trips, odd to think of past years when we had to layer up due to the chill in the air.

 

Bono’s bike going over was the only mishap of the week and could have been a lot worse. An expensive mistake but these things happen and despite the damage nothing horrendously expensive on the bike was harmed and everything important worked.

 

 

 

[bonio]

Wednesday. One man down, four to go. 

We headed off south over the hills down over the bridge at Bollendorf into Luxembourg and then off to explore the area to the north of the City. But was it hot! We stopped at an Esso where I tanked up on Dr Pepper and stuck to the shade. Thankfully the country is full of wooded valleys, and riding through these was deliciously cool. We got to Esch a bit late for lunch - it was probably about half past one - but this was now pretty normal for us; we were getting hardened to it . I ordered panini made with bland cheese (I though that stuff was illegal in Europe) but I did better than @Gerontious who got a tupenny bread roll with a 10 inch chipolata sticking out of it. The prices were sky high, and they made us pay before eating. But the guys tucked into coffe and cake afterwards, and judging by the expressions on their faces, it kind of made up for the mains.

The route home was a great one, dropping down into Vianden, past the castle, bumpetty bump bump over a mile of cobbles and then back over the hills to the Schloss.

 

coming into Vianden

[Bungleaio]

Thursday for me I felt back to normal. I could have gone out with the rest of the lads but they did Luxembourg on Tuesday and with this being my last day before I start my homeward journey I didn't want to miss out on some proper riding in Luxembourg. I plotted a route on calimoto and set off on my own.

 

I quite fancy doing some camping around here and this campsite caught my eye https://www.google.com/maps/@49.8695132,6.2676132,3a,75y,347.55h,85.86t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sLIV7MWSI3q0_OW9bn0iGcQ!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DLIV7MWSI3q0_OW9bn0iGcQ%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D258.54672%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

 

 

First proper stop was at Beaufort Castle. I didn't go in, it was a photo stop only.

 

 

My next stop was a couple of hours later on a random hairpin, there were some picnic benches.

 

 

It was another roasting day so I cheated for lunch and went for an air conditioned lunch, It was pricey though!

 

 

€2.65 for 0.4 liters of water the robbing gits! double Chilli cheese burger was good though.

 

I headed back to the hotel getting back around 4:30 having covered a reasonable 150 miles.

 

The main course that evening was a huge meatball with an egg on the top. It's simple food at the hotel but it all tastes so good.

 

 

Sadly @smallfrowne couldn't join us as it was his turn to have a night kneeling to the porcelain gods.

 

 

 

 

[Bungleaio]

Friday for me was the start of the return journey. The other guys would do it all in one hit on Saturday but I needed to go to a wedding reception on Saturday night so I broke the journey so I could get an earlier crossing back to England.

 

Some minor repairs were required to Bonios tyre as he'd got a nail it so I watched that being done before heading off.

 

 

My plan was to take an interesting route to my hotel in Lille, I started that way and ended up in a random Belgian town so I called in a supermarket to get some lunch. I ended up with some sushi and a beer

 

 

By this point the temperature was up to about 33 degrees so I changed the satnav to get me to the hotel via the quickest route. Several hours of hot motorway later I arrived in Lille. I'd read that this can be a bit of a sketchy place so I'd booked a hotel with secure parking.

 

 

After a quick shower I headed out into Lille for a mooch about. It's not a bad place to stop off, I wouldn't be rushing there for a weekend trip

 

 

I did manage to get a beer and a steak though

 

 

I accidentally arrived in France for the start of the Rugby World cup so I headed back to the hotel to watch the opening game.

 

[Bungleaio]

Saturday's ride was fairly uninspiring, I got out of Lille early and got to Calais as quickly as possible. I was offered an earlier train but managed to get on an even earlier one than that.

 

A rare spot in the car park at the tunnel, I should imagine it's a replica but it would be awesome if it was a genuine one.

 

 

There was 3 bikes on the train I caught, even though it was only about 11:30 it was already getting hot, as we all know they keep you until right at the end to get on, so we all cooked for a bit. 

 

 

At least the train was air-conditioned, they provided some water for us too which was nice.

 

 

Once in England I got some fuel from Ashford and headed home. Last year I just did it in one hit but due to the heat I stopped at South Mims to take on water.

 

I got home had about an hour to unload the bike have a shower and head off to the wedding.

 

All in over the 10 days I covered 1760 miles. Another fantastic trip, great to meet up with the other lads again and I can't wait to do it again.

[bonio]

Thursday.

Before we set off, I see that someone's made themselves at home in my bike:

I guess they're coming along for the ride.

 

The idea of the day is to pick up the L10 at Waxweiler and follow it to its end, up in the Vulcaneifel. Then nip over to the Eifelnaturpark, hop into Belgium and  back home. Plans, eh...

 

But at least we did the L10 bit, and in a couple of hours of cracking riding we were in Adenau for kaffee und kuchen which we ate seated outside on the pavement, as if in grandstand: a steady stream of beautiful bikes bikes bikes growling up the road, dotted here and with classic open-top Jags (XK140s?) that were festively decorated with expensive-looking people. We tried to blend in; not sure we completely pulled it off.   

Cake eaten, back on the road, the L10 that is, and on northeastwards to the Laacher See, a perfectly round lake surrounded by a perfect circle of hills: the crater of an ancient volcano. We squeezed our bikes into the exit lane of a pay-and-display car park, causing chaotic disruption to the normal tranquil flow of tourist traffic, but at least we got a quick butchers at the place without coughing up 5 euro a head .

 

By now we're only a couple of miles from the Rhine, and a long, long way from home, but there's still a bit more riding before we stop for lunch, finding some shade from the searing heat at a kebab shop. Photographing food is thing nowadays, so here you go:

 

Lunch done, and we're not quite half way round. But we're on the bit where we're heading west to the Eifel park when a sign that seems to say the road is closed, and although this hasn't always deterred us earlier in the week, we now meekly turn off and ride over a pile of stones onto a track - here it is -

 

 

that leads nowhere.

 

So we go back to the road that seems to be closed, past the barriers and, along with a load of other traffic, find ourselves funneled though a long, long chain of traffic lights, all them red, all them under the blast of a Saharan sun. At one point we pass a brook burbling though a verdant meadow and I have to get a grip to stop myself running into the water as I am, helmet and gloves all.

When we get out of the chicanes, there are some great roads to be ridden, but we've lost a load of time and so cut for home on the autobahn and D roads.

Definitely an area to explore further.

 

Edited September 20, 2023 by bonio

[Gerontious]

Confusing signs and barriers. Though the barrier was the worst. In my book a barrier across the road means the road is closed. But them germans being really quite cunning have a different perspective and it took some time to work out.

 

The area with the lights and these by now infamous barriers was really badly hit by the epic floods in 2021 and the repairs and rebuilding is still ongoing.  Seems likely to me that they held off until the holiday season was over before starting up again and obviously as this was our time to be there - we got caught up in it.

 

But that part of the Eastern Eifel is very nice.. been over there more than a few times now. And it never fails to delight. I might give the Ahrtal road a miss though next time and stay south of there.

 

A view from Happier times.

 

 

 

[bonio]

Huge thanks to @Gerontious and @Bungleaio who plugged the hole in my rear tyre. I'd somehow got a screw in it and it was gently losing pressure, but they had me back riding again in no time, no dramas.

Bit of a coincidence: had more or less the same thing happen to the car earlier this week. Took it to the place up the road where they plugged it for free.

[Gerontious]

28 minutes ago, bonio said:

Huge thanks to @Gerontious and @Bungleaio who plugged the hole in my rear tyre. I'd somehow got a screw in it and it was gently losing pressure, but they had me back riding again in no time, no dramas.

Bit of a coincidence: had more or less the same thing happen to the car earlier this week. Took it to the place up the road where they plugged it for free.

 

No problem. To my mind the most common problem you can have on tour is a puncture. And fixing it yourself is quite simple and so much better than being forced to wait for some random assistance vehicle to turn up. I was reading only the other day of someone in France having to wait for 6 hours. cooking at the side of the road and obviously no shade anywhere near. Why put your self through that?

Much better to either limp 'home' or do it there and then. It wasn't all plain sailing though. was it. Firstly things never seem to go smoothly when you have an audience. And secondly the plugs had kinda dried out. (lesson learnt) As they need to be compressed and forced through a much smaller tube they must be covered in lubricant - silicone oil being the best. And as they had sat in the bag for quite some time, this had sorta rubbed off. So, it took a couple of attempts. But, unlike other methods if it goes wrong first time no mess or further damage is caused so you can just have another go without any issues. It took 2 attempts.

I have a little bottle of silicone oil that I will carry with the plugs in future. in fact, its already in the bag.

[fullscreenaging]

I’ve just been sent an email from MyRouteApp. 
 

[bonio]

Friday. We said goodbye to @Bungleaio and left @smallfrowne at the hotel to recover from his technicolour night. Three men left in.

But my memories of Friday are a bit fuzzy. Most of the time it felt like my rear tyre was soft, but when I checked the pressure it was always spot on. We stopped for lunch at a very pleasant spot (my phone tells me it was in Neunkirchen).

Lunch stop

 

It was the hottest day so far, so we ate inside - air conditioning .

 

Not sure quite what happened after lunch, but this is what my phone said we did.

Friday afternoon's route

 

... but which way round we went I haven't a clue . 

 

Later that afternoon we stopped at Lidl in Gerolstein, and I lost the other two as we were leaving, followed my phone onto windy route off the road and back onto it again, right behind the other two lads. So we all made back to the hotel all together. 

 

While we were at Gerolstein, I was getting a bit frustrated with a bike that wasn't handling right at all, so I whomped the rear preload up a dozen clicks, and after that it rode perfectly. So I checked all the suspension settings when we got back: pretty sure the rear shock is failing. The fuel level sensor had been a bit dodgy on the trip, too, so I've added that to the warranty list too. It's all part of the excitement of life with an MV. 

 

That night at the hotel there happened to be small group from MV Owners Club Deustchland. What eye-splittingly beautiful bikes they had - Dragters and Brutales and the like. One of the guys had the ugly duckling TV like mine. He asked if I'd had problems like his and I said of course. But then he told me his engine had blown up and so he'd replaced it with a Brutale engine. But it had somehow confused the engine management system and now his gear shifts were all upside-down. But he seemed very happy with MV. In fact they all did. One of the guys told me he had 9 more at home. Crazy guys.

 

Crazy guys' bikes

 

 

[bonio]

1 minute ago, fullscreenaging said:

I’ve just been sent an email from MyRouteApp. 
 

Here's the link in case anyone's interested: Route collection hairpins in the Eifel | The largest verified route archive thanks to MyRoute-app RouteXperts (myrouteapp.com)

[Gerontious]

13 minutes ago, bonio said:

Not sure quite what happened after lunch, but this is what my phone said we did.

Friday afternoon's route

 

... but which way round we went I haven't a clue . 

 

 

 

 

 

Now you are embarrassing me. Truth is the heat addled my brain and we missed a turning. no problem I thought, carry on and then navigate back onto it. Only the sat nav was telling me to do a U turn. and obviously we NEVER do U turns so I ignored it.. and somehow we ended up going in a circle. I suddenly had this strange sense of de ja vue. How on earth can we go in such a perfect circle when the roads round these parts are numbered in the 1000s?

 

Its a mystery. The landscape was fabulous though.

 

Nobody will notice I said to myself.. nobody will notice.

 

drat.

 

despite all that is was a great day. A great week in fact. Snoddy volunteered on the way back that he really enjoyed it. well of course he did. at the end of the day he was the only person who actually dressed for the conditions. vented race suit. I was 'half dressed' for it.. vented jacket but not my troosers. never mind eh. He was also overjoyed to discover that the Schloss had a new beer on tap. at €2 a pop. depressed only by the fact that this wasn't actually discovered until the thursday night.

 

my mileage door to door was 2200 miles. which perfectly demonstrates just how epic the week was. we pack more into the week than a lot of people manage in a year. nobody died. nobody broke down. nobody had a strop. The illnesses were due to heat stroke I believe,  Bonio managed to get lost a few times but then was found again. without any attendant drama. His bike went over. his bike got a puncture. no big deal. though the going over was a blow and he beat himself up a bit over it. but only a bit. its one of those things you do once and a lesson is learnt. At least the bike wasn't damaged to the point it will carry scars. good as new at some point.

 

we saw almost no police. no speed cameras. no flashes. no congestion (except around Cochem) we rediscovered the beauty of the VulkanEifel. And some really quite amazing roads that are on the doorstep of the little village we stay in.

 

I got to ride through at least 2 Volcanoes. one is considered active by some. Dormant by others. but is definitely alive. and marvelled just how huge it is. The last eruption is estimated to have been 250 times the Mt St Helens. it didn't erupt. it exploded. The lake is 1.2 miles across.. the caldera is a lot larger than that. Riding down into it was awesome for a sad git like me who is interested in this type of thing.

 

We didn't get any photos.. but I like this one.

 

 

The daily forecast for snow was spot on. obviously.. because all it took was one look at the blue sky each morning to know that snow was coming. just like winter.

 

Looks like Im going away again in June.. so talk of the Eifel 2024 can wait until after that.

[Gerontious]

@bonio I’m not sure why your phone is telling you that lunch was at Neunkirchen - possibly the district - German naming conventions are a tad confusing. Anyway, we stopped at a Landhaus in the little village of Wallenborn  - next to the geyser. One of those happy accidents. The route didn’t go into that village but it sounded familiar and might have an eatery. It was familiar due to the geyser (which I’ve always wanted to see) and hunger pangs were beginning and so… a brief exploration and voila a restaurant with motorbikes outside. It even had a dedicated spot for bikes. (Which we used) - we didn’t catch the geyser erupting but this is what it would have looked like if we had. Not hugely impressive. But it is what it is.

 

 

There is a really impressive one over near the Rhine. One day….

Edited September 22, 2023 by Gerontious

[bonio]

Checked the phone a second time. It actually agrees pwith you about lunch.

This is the spot, next to the geyser.

[Gerontious]

Today I have booked my hols for next year. get it done early so I can't be refused due to numbers. 2 weeks in June and a week in September. For September Ive booked 30 - 8th

 

For June.. the countdown has begun and it doesn't sound so bad as next September. 259 days. tick-tock.

 

Just need to sort out a new purple passport. with a nice Harp on the front. begorrah.